PRINCETON GEOLOGIST ARNOLD GUYOT (1807-1884): READING THE EARTH AS THE ULTIMATE HISTORICAL TEXT

This paper focuses upon Arnold Guyot's nineteenth-century conceptualization of the earth's usefulness to the study of geology and history. Guyot's scholarly pursuits at the University of Berlin exposed him to the Naturphilosophie of Romantic science. The lasting influences of G.W.F. Hegel's philosophy of history, Alexander von Humboldt's comprehensive earth science, and Carl Ritter's anthropocentric geography are discussed. In particular, the historical perspective that Guyot gained in Berlin is shown to have remained central to his philosophical view of both the earth and its inhabitants throughout his career.

Guyot returned to his Swiss homeland to teach history, historical geology and physical geography at the Academy of Neuchatel for nearly a decade before the 1848 Revolution prompted him and his colleague, Louis Agassiz, to leave for the United States. He became the founding professor of geology and geography at Princeton University where he remained until his death (1884). For this presentation, Guyot's historical viewpoints are drawn from his popular geohistorical text, Earth and Man (1849) as well as from his Princeton geology lectures.

Guyot's professional activities exemplify how geologists of his era perceived the earth both in terms of its own historical evolution and as a platform upon which the history of mankind progressed. Particular attention is focused on the contemporary scientific theory that perceived the earth to be a dynamic, developing organism. Guyot's incorporation of this prevalent theory into his own important investigations into glacial motion and structure are discussed. Additionally, I describe his use of this theory to strengthen contemporary "ecological" beliefs that nature, mankind, and moral and intellectual life are all interconnected into a unified whole. Guyot's biography is used as a lens to examine how a single geological theory became integrated into interdisciplinary pursuits that spanned an entire career.